[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

So if you don't have gas OR a garage, your risk is significantly lower than a house that has both.

Good to know. Glad I live in a double-wide.

Isn’t furnace vent sticking up above roof line lightning attraction? And how about those plumbing vent pipes?

[HappyTraveler]

Originally Posted by Aces4

Nah, just dangerous to be ignorant. Lightning is an issue and it can be hellacious in this area. Why not put up extra protection, particularly if you have a very expensive home or items in your home you'd like to keep and not have them replaced by insurance. Most of us have insurance on our homes but very few will ever need it, should we cancel the policy?

You just compared apples to apple pie. Not the same thing but, share a common component.

The apple is the singular lightning strike probability - which is very low and mostly seasonal.

The apple pie includes the comprehensive probabilities of the many things that could happen to your home. It's a different proposition and those varied risks could occur in any of the 12 months of the year.

So, no, you probably shouldn't cancel your comprehensive insurance because your chances of an adverse event are higher. Sink hole, flooding, lightning strikes? All singular events and lower probability, therefore, optional.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by asianthree

Our last home the previous owner proposal was $5,000. 2 years later lightning struck 4 houses down, traveling to 6 different houses, killed our irrigation box and a water bill of $800 for non stop 48 hour running.

Rods would not have helped since it wasn’t a direct strike.

A direct hit at your home at the time that moved the other way would have burned your home to a crisp. The type of damage you suffered was manageable.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

I can post thousands of pictures of houses that have NOT been hit by lightning.

And getting this in early, while I believe lightning protection helps, there are too few protected homes around to make the claim that a protection system will guarantee your home will not be affected.

Lighting happens, protection systems help, but suggesting that you are at a high risk of your house burning down without one is an exaggeration.

The Villages Lightning Study Group has 17 documented cases of homes struck with a Lightning Protection System and there was no damage.

You are correct in that the probability of getting struck by lightning is very low here in the Villages even though central Florida is the lightning capital of the USA, but if it does happen, it will be a life changing experience for you and your family.

For less than the cost of one criuse, you can have a system installed and lower the probability of you home burning down or getting damaged from a lightning strike to near zero since nothing man made is 100%.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by HappyTraveler

You just compared apples to apple pie. Not the same thing but, share a common component.

The apple is the singular lightning strike probability - which is very low and mostly seasonal.

The apple pie includes the comprehensive probabilities of the many things that could happen to your home. It's a different proposition and those varied risks could occur in any of the 12 months of the year.

So, no, you probably shouldn't cancel your comprehensive insurance because your chances of an adverse event are higher. Sink hole, flooding, lightning strikes? All singular events and lower probability, therefore, optional.

But I don't want to cancel my peace of mind. Other than fire, sink hole and flooding what else do I need to worry about for insurance? Hurricanes and crime are so low it would probably never affect my home.. Therefore, cancel.. right?

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by HappyTraveler

YES, my deduction as well. What seems to be the key (and if anyone has an accurate answer, it would be appreciated) is how many of Villages homes that suffered significant damage from a lightning strike was a because the strike hit a gas line or hit near it and then the gas line ignited shortly after causing most of the damage?

Very important detail. ^^^

Utilizing insurance is all about assessing probabilities. Many people are over-insured for all sorts of things and it costs them big over a lifetime.

This is a crazy discussion, most Villagers haven't suffered anything to require insurance coverage. Why bother then?

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

I can post thousands of pictures of houses that have NOT been hit by lightning.

And getting this in early, while I believe lightning protection helps, there are too few protected homes around to make the claim that a protection system will guarantee your home will not be affected.

Lighting happens, protection systems help, but suggesting that you are at a high risk of your house burning down without one is an exaggeration.

Those were all from last two years alone where we had six home burn to the ground. They were in Linden, Sunset Pointe, Winifred, St. Charles, Rio-Grande.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

So if you don't have gas OR a garage, your risk is significantly lower than a house that has both.

Good to know. Glad I live in a double-wide.

And the good thing about a double-wide is if fire strikes, you can have the units wheeled off and new ones wheeled on and you're not waiting 2 years for demolition and a rebuild.

[CarlR33]

Originally Posted by Tom52

Do insurance companies offer a discount to homeowners with lightening rods installed?

Or, since it’s such a great investment can you wave your home insurance for lightning rods, LOL Should I build a flood wall for the potential flood? This is why I have home insurance…..just saying.

[CarlR33]

Originally Posted by sounding

One home in Calumet Grove and the other in Sabal Chase - and neither had lightning rods.

Was there any news of that in the Sunny paper?

[HappyTraveler]

Originally Posted by Aces4

But I don't want to cancel my peace of mind. Other than fire, sink hole and flooding what else do I need to worry about for insurance? Hurricanes and crime are so low it would probably never affect my home.. Therefore, cancel.. right?

Yow, reading comprehension was lacking of my last comment. The bolded proves it. Try again.

Regarding Comment # 39 . Indeed, some portion (have no idea the number) of Villagers don't carry home insurance. My father never did carry insurance in his entire lifetime of home ownership.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by HappyTraveler

Yow, reading comprehension was lacking of my last comment. The bolded proves it. Try again.

Regarding Comment # 39 . Indeed, some portion (have no idea the number) of Villagers don't carry home insurance. My father never did carry insurance in his entire lifetime of home ownership.

I comprehended just fine. All insurance coverage is based on the fact that nothing probably will happen and that is why it is profitable. Sooo few incidences which you mentioned EVER happen in TVs so why worry about any of it!

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by jrref

The Villages Lightning Study Group has 17 documented cases of homes struck with a Lightning Protection System and there was no damage.

Very interesting that such a relatively small number of homes have been struck so many times. Seems like it might be statistically significant.

- Are homes equipped with LPS more likely to be struck? The common/desired answer is no.

- Are the homes equipped with LPS just terribly unlucky?

- Is the determination of a strike somehow flawed and that 17 is inaccurate?

- Are there more strikes on homes than we are aware of because many cause no damage but our homes are not instrumented to document them?

[sounding]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

So if you don't have gas OR a garage, your risk is significantly lower than a house that has both.

Good to know. Glad I live in a double-wide.

Most lightning house fires were with gas in attic, but not all.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by asianthree

Posting the date+year and village of All the homes hit by lightning, would be a benefit.

It would also be very informative if you included how many roof tops existed in TV, with each lighting strike. TV has been in existence since the 70s, starting with Mobil homes, some of which were destroyed during tornado, that may have had lighting issues. Even better the number of those who chose to install rods in TV

If residents were aware of the % of home ratio to strike, and damage of either total loss or minimum damage. I am sure that data is available for you to share since this thread is about the need to buy lightning rods

Any time you have a issue where you are deciding to spend money to protect your home from lightning for example, you can look at the problem statistically and when you do your research you will find here in Central Florida, the statistical probability of your home being struck by lightning is one of the highest locations in the USA. So, what that mean is although your probability of your home being struck by lightning is low, not very low, here in Central Florida it's one of the highest in the country.

So, you have two options:
One, do nothing and take your chances and if you do get hit and there is significant damage to your home, or it burns to the ground, you deal with it with your insurance company. But be aware, and we have this documented from almost all cases here in the Villages, you will most likely not be able to live in you your home for about a year while you deal with your insurance company who won't want to pay and then find a deal with someone who is going to re-build your home. It will be a life changing experience not to mention all your personal belongings that you won't be able to replace.

Two, take one less cruise and spend the $2,800-$3,500, the typical cost for a system for a Designer home, smaller homes will be less, and have a Lightning Protection System installed and significantly reduce the risk of any significant damage being done to your home from a lightning strike.

The Villages Lightning Study Group is giving a presentation on 8/19 at Mulberry Grove Rec center at 6PM. We will be able to answer any of your questions with factual data, specifically about lightning strikes here in the Villages for the past 15 years.

Lightning Protection Systems work because when a storm is over your home and the cloud to ground charge potential is strong enough to make a connection to your home, lightning rods will provide a safe path to ground vs it blowing a hole in your roof and destroying everything in it's path seeking ground. It's all about your tolereance for risk, but once you have the information, then you will be better able to make a more informed decision about whether or not to get a lightning protection system.